FOUR persons looted cash and valuables worth Rs 5 lakh from the office of a courier agency in Kalbadevi area of south Mumbai early Monday morning. A CCTV camera in the shop captured the incident and is being used by police to track down the unidentified accused.

The incident took place around 8 am on Monday, when one of the two employees of the courier service office who slept there in the night was leaving the shop to fill water. As seen in the footage, when the employee was about to leave, four men barged in and pushed him inside.

At least two were armed with choppers and threatened both employees to sit in the corner. They then poured a liquid from a bottle on a piece of cloth and made the employees sniff it, causing them to lose consciousness, an officer said.

The accused then checked various parcels and zeroed in on two, which they cut open using choppers. Assistant police inspector Rahul Naik said they picked up the two parcels, one containing nearly Rs 2 lakh in cash and the other containing jewellery worth Rs 3 lakh.

“Since the faces of the accused are not covered, we circulated their photographs to see if anyone identifies them,” Naik said. Another officer said they are checking with current and former employees of the courier agency, along with those in the vicinity.

A senior officer said courier agencies, especially in Kalbadevi area, have been targeted several times in the past as well.

Explaining the reason, the officer said, “Normally a lot of jewellery from places such as Surat lands at courier agencies in Kalbadevi, from where it is sent across to other places in the city. Same applies to the cash sent through these agencies. Hence they are targeted more.”

A case has been registered against unidentified persons under sections 392 (robbery), 452 (house trespass), 328 (causing hurt) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code s at LT Marg police station, under whose jurisdiction the courier agency falls.